Harry's First Night at Hogwarts
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: Minerva often baby-sits Harry for Lily and James. However, what happens when one-year old Harry has to stay a whole night at Hogwarts? Completely AU, baby-fic, sick!Harry


**Harry's First Night at Hogwarts**

**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

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Lily stepped out of the fireplace in Minerva McGonagall's office, one year and two months old Harry in her arms. "Hello Minerva, are you sure that you're up to babysitting Harry for us?"

"Of course, Lily, he's such a sweetie," Minerva replied, taking Harry from her. "Hello Harry, will you stay here at Hogwarts tonight?"

"Mi-na," Harry replied, giving the older lady, who was like a granny for him, a toothy smile. '_I like granny; she is nice_,' his one-year old mind mused.

"We'll be back home around midnight, so if you want to get rid of him, just call us, Minerva. Otherwise I'll come to get him tomorrow morning."

"Let him stay until the morning; we'll be fine, sweetie, won't we?"

Harry agreed with a huge smile, giving his mummy a sloppy kiss, when she waved him bye-bye. It was not the first time for Minerva to baby-sit Harry. However, normally, he only stayed for a few hours during the day, but unbeknownst to Harry, today he was going to stay at Hogwarts overnight.

As soon as Lily left, Harry toddled over to Minerva and stood in front of her, throwing both arms into the air.

Minerva obediently picked the child up and told him, "All right, Harry; it's time to head to the Great Hall for dinner. Do I have to carry you, or will you walk for a while?"

Harry answered by cuddling deeper into Minerva's robes, causing Minerva to carry him down the stairs. On the way, Harry laughed at all the portraits, giggling happily when they gently waved at him.

Minerva sat him in a child's seat, which the house-elves had kindly brought for him. Knowing that Harry normally ate everything that was served for lunch or dinner, she put a little bit of everything on his plate and tried to feed him small pieces while she was eating her own meal, listening to her colleagues' talking at the same time. However, Harry apparently didn't want to eat anything. The beard of Albus Dumbledore, who was sitting on his right side, seemed to be much more appealing. Harry pressed his mouth shut, one hand reaching out for the long, white beard, and when Minerva insisted that he should eat a bit, huge tears began to stream down his cheeks. Minerva was at a loss, and when Harry finally began to whimper and stretched his arms out for her to pick him up, she took him out of his seat and quickly retreated to her quarters, afraid that he would begin to scream all over the Great Hall.

She sighed in relief when they reached her private quarters. "All right, sweetie; I think it's time for you to go to bed. Let's take a bath first," she told him in a soft voice. Minerva called a house-elf and asked for a bath for Harry and some warm milk in a baby bottle. She quickly summoned a nappy and pyjamas out of the bag Lily had brought for Harry and took the child to the bathroom, where she gently undressed him, vanished the dirty nappy with a flick of her wand, and sat Harry down in the water that had just the appropriate temperature for a baby.

To Minerva's great astonishment, Harry didn't want to play with the dragon toys she always kept for him in her bathroom and continued to whimper while she gently washed him. '_That's strange; I wonder if he is more tired than normal today_,' she thought, concerned, giving Harry a sharp look. '_Maybe he is getting sick; if he continues to behave strangely during the night, I will call Poppy_,' she thought, gently taking the boy out of the bathtub. She wrapped him in a soft red towel and lay him down on her bed, quickly putting his nappy on him, before she dressed him in his dark blue footie pyjamas that had a Snitch flying around all the time.

As soon as Harry was dressed, he wanted to be picked up again. Minerva carried him back into the living room, where she sat down on the sofa, laid him in a comfortable position on her lap, and tried to feed him the bottle, which the house elves had prepared so that it would always have the right temperature. However, Harry turned his head away as soon as he spotted the bottle. "Noo," he whimpered and nestled deeper into Minerva's robes, lazily closing his eyes, before he all of a sudden let out a series of sneezes. "Atchoo, atchoo, aaatchoo, hesshoo." Shivering a bit, he curled up on Minerva's lap as well as he could and gave her a bleary look.

Minerva looked at the infant in concern and disbelief. "Are you sick?" she enquired softly, while she extended a hand and gently felt his forehead. '_It feels a bit warm, but he just had a warm bath_,' she thought and summoned the Muggle thermometer that she kept in her bathroom.

Harry watched as the thermometer hovered towards them but didn't show any excitement, and Minerva noticed that his eyes were glazed over. "Harry, can you open your mouth, so that I can take your temperature, please?" Minerva asked softly, but Harry pressed his mouth shut. Not wanting to force the little tyke, especially as he seemed to feel unwell anyway, she carefully opened his pyjamas, so that she could stick the icy thing under his arm, causing Harry to frown. Minerva gently cuddled the infant close, while they were waiting. After an infinite time, finally the thermometer beeped and Minerva carefully took it out, throwing a glance at the display before she gently closed Harry's pyjamas again. '_39.5, that's a very high fever_,' she thought, horrified.

Pulling Harry up so that his head came to lie down on her left shoulder, Minerva hurried to the fireplace and called Poppy. "You must come immediately, Poppy. Harry has a fever," she told her friend worriedly.

A minute later, the medi-witch stepped out of the fireplace, waving her wand at Harry. "He has a cold," she finally said. "The problem is that I don't have any potions, which we can give such a small child. I have to Floo over to St. Mungo's to retrieve a toddler's Pepper-up. It might take a few minutes. Put him into your bed and try to cool him down a bit."

Minerva did as she was told; however, Harry didn't take it well to be put to bed. He was feeling so unwell that he wanted to be cuddled instead of lying in a bed without the warmth of a body right next to him. Only when Minerva lay down next to him cuddling him close, he stopped whimpering. However, he began to sneeze and cough all the time, and by the time Poppy returned from the hospital and checked on him again, his fever was well exceeding forty degrees.

Knowing that the child was in no condition to take a potion, Poppy spelled the potion straight into his stomach. However, just like the Pepperup potion for older witches and wizards, the toddler's Pepperup had the side effect of steam coming out of the ears, an outcome that Harry didn't take well at all. He began to cry in a hoarse voice, ending up in a coughing fit, and Poppy already mused about giving him a sip of a calming draught, when he finally calmed down and drifted off to sleep in Minerva's arms.

"He needs another dose of Pepperup potion in four hours and a last one in the morning. If his fever exceeds forty degrees again, we have to give him a fever reducer. You better check his temperature from time to time. Minerva, I'm sorry, but I have several students in the hospital wing, whom I have to watch even during the night. However, I will come to look after Harry every few hours, and of course you can call me anytime," Poppy promised before she left through the fireplace.

Minerva spent the whole night at Harry's side, looking after the small child. She bathed his hot face with a cool cloth, helping him sit up when he had to cough vehemently. Noticing how hot he was to the touch, she frequently took his temperature, trying to warm her hand a bit before she touched his arm to stick the cold thing under his arm in order not to wake him up. Knowing that Poppy would return in time for his next dose of Pepperup potion, she gladly ignored the phials that were waiting on the night table. However, when she saw that his fever exceeded forty degrees again, she knew that she somehow had to force a fever reducer into the child.

She gently stroked his hot cheeks with her cold hands and said softly, "Harry, I need you to wake up for a moment; you have to take a potion to make you better." Receiving no reaction what so ever, she pulled the child up into a sitting position, and as soon as he blinked, she pressed the phial against his mouth, coaxing him into swallowing.

However, Harry only swallowed once. Then he stopped and seemed to concentrate, but instead of receiving a strange smell from his nappy, which she expected at the look of concentration on his face, Minerva saw how the phial escaped her hand, flew away from the child, and crashed against the opposite wall. '_Oh my, is he powerful_,' Minerva thought, amazed at the amount of accidental magic.

"No Harry, you're very naughty. It's a fever reducer, and you must take it because your fever is very high right now," she gently scolded the child.

Fortunately, Poppy burst into the room, before Minerva had to try to make him drink the potion again. "Thank Merlin you're here, Poppy," she said, relieved to see her friend.

"Why? What happened?" Poppy asked in surprise.

Minerva told her the story, causing the Mediwitch to gasp. "That's indeed an amazing amount of magic for such a small child. You have to inform Lily about that. Well, I will spell both potions straight into his stomach. Now, I want you to lie down next to him and sleep for a few hours; I will watch him. I can sleep a bit during the day, while you have to teach."

During the rest of the night, Minerva and Poppy took turns looking after Harry, and in the morning he willingly took his last dose of the Toddlers' Pepperup, seeing that Minerva was forced by Poppy to drink one herself too. By the time Lily came to fetch Harry, his cold was completely gone and his fever as well. Harry was sitting on Minerva's lap on the sofa, cheering while she read him a story.

"Hello sweetie, is everything all right?" Lily asked, smiling when Harry jumped to the floor and ran over to her with a huge smile on his face.

**The End**


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